Stagg 77 T HG Trumpet

This is a tidy little trumpet at a budget price that has student / semi-pro written all over it. A very narrow and sleek instrument with a gold bell and lead pipe, the 77T certainly looks the part. The overall finishing is good, with all valves and pipes being airtight – I particularly liked the use of plastic ‘O’ rings on the pipe joints to stop any damage to a metal to metal surface. There are integral springs inside the pistons and on my sample the valves worked well. However, the thickness of the metal on the casings means that great care needs to be taken when removing the head, as cross threading could be a problem. Sonically the sample 77T had good intonation and produced a bright, relatively hard sound, particularly when pushed; there is no question that this horn is less forgiving at the top end than it is in the lower register, where it will comfortably play down to F sharp. Exchanging the supplied 7C mouthpiece for a 3 didn’t have any great effect on the sound quality.